'300' rises above 'Mr. Peabody' to capture weekend box office

Reuters

The action film "300: Rise of an Empire" battled its way to $45 million in ticket sales to win the weekend box office race, slashing its way past the animated film "Mr. Peabody & Sherman."

"Mr. Peabody & Sherman," based on the "Peabody's Improbable History" segments of the 1960s animated TV show starring the characters Rocky and Bullwinkle, collected ticket sales of $32.5 million at US and Canadian theaters.

Last week's box office winner, "Non-Stop," was third with $15.4 million in sales. The film stars Liam Neeson as an alcoholic US air marshal racing to stop a string of murders on an international flight.

"300: Rise of an Empire," set in ancient Greece, is a blood-splattered sequel to the 2006 blockbuster "300." It takes place before and after the earlier film when 300 Spartans marched to their deaths in a battle against the Persians.

In the sequel, an alliance of Greek city-states wage battle on the seas against the Persians.

Both films are based on graphic novels written by author Frank Miller. "300: Rise of an Empire" stars Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton as the Greek leader Themistocles and French actress and model Eva Green as Artemisia, the ruthless commander of the Persian forces.

"This far exceeded our expectations," said Jeff Goldstein, executive vice president for theatrical distribution at Warner Brothers, which distributed the film produced by Legendary Pictures.

The studio anticipated an opening in the range of $35 million to $40 million, "thinking, if we can get to $100 million (total box office) we'd be in a good place," Goldstein added, noting that the movie made nearly half that in its opening days.

"Clearly we captured a much broader audience than we anticipated," Goldstein said.

The film added another $88 million from foreign boxes in 58 markets, Warner Bros. said, and another $12 million from IMAX screenings globally.

"Mr. Peabody & Sherman," which features the talking dog Mr. Peabody and his adopted boy, Sherman, exceeded studio 20th Century Fox's expectations for an opening from about $25 million to $30 million.

"With nostalgia in play, this film was geared toward both adults beyond the traditional family film audience, while introducing the characters of Sherman and Mr. Peabody to a new generation of kids who had never seen them," said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for Fox.

Aronson said he expected to film to continue to perform well in the coming weeks, noting "there's not an animated film for another month, and with spring holidays approaching we're in a really good place."

The movie was directed by Rob Minkoff, who also directed the 1994 animated film "The Lion King." That film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two Oscars for its music.

Minkoff's earlier Disney film collected $987.5 million in worldwide ticket sales, the second most for an animated film after "Frozen," according to the website Box Office Mojo.

"The Lego Movie" took the No. 4 spot with $11 million, according to box office tracking firm Rentrak. The animated hit based on the colorful plastic blocks has now totaled $225 million since its February 7 release.

Rounding out the top five, "Son of God," based on "The Bible" television mini-series produced by "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, collected sales of $10 million.

Warner Brothers, a unit of Time Warner, distributed "300:Rise of an Empire" and "The Lego Movie."